Band locking

fixerjm wrote:

New to the forum here. I have a question for the T-Mobile engineers, when will we be allowed to through a firmware update to lock the bands? My trashcan keeps switching back to primary B71(LTE) and no secondary connection. If I reset it I get primary band 2(LTE) and secondary n71(5G) AND MY SPEED DOUBLES through carrier aggregation band combination. I understands what the software is doing. The primary B71 has a stronger signal than the primary Band 2 but we need a choice. So please fix this T-Mobile engineers.

Hey hello welcome. Yea the logic is not the best but after watching it for weeks I understand it. I live in an odd area n41 3 miles to the SW, B66 .5 miles to the W, and n71 2 miles to the NW. Can wants to lock on the B66 and n71 but n71 is crap so eventually it drops off and speed drops. If I am on the S side of the house it wants the n41 and B66 but when the signal swings it will drop the n41 and grab the crap n71 and no speed. After much research I installed an outside antenna pointed it at the n41 (being it is crazy fast) and done stays on n41 B66 like a rock. The antenna worked wonders getting 750 down 125 up again stays locked on like a rock no issues. Yes some cost to install an antenna but saving so much over Comcast with no data cap.

There is a Facebook group T-Mobile Home Internet that has a lot of helpful info and ppl that help out.

I too would love the bandlocking feature.  I was surprised going through the menu that there was no band scanner or locking feature so I guess I was spoiled with my previous cellular gateway MOFI 4500.

fixerjm wrote:

... when will we be allowed to through a firmware update to lock the bands? My trashcan keeps switching back to primary B71(LTE) and no secondary connection.

Band-locking by selecting a setting isn't a thing and won't be in the next few years anyway. The cellular system is designed to do the opposite -- drift seamlessly between towers/bands as people move around, and for traffic distribution, without any interruption in a call or internet.

Some people are located between two or more towers, roughly equal distant. That can be a problem. The 5G connection you want is a non-standalone signal pair, 4G/5G, primary/secondary, B-band/n-band. The trick is to find a location and orientation for your gateway that will somehow not leave you stuck on your slow primary-only 4G connection.

Other people, like Bond, are near both the n71 and n41, and not picking up the one they wanted, the higher speed n41. No gateway location/orientation could help him and he needed a better and more directional antenna than the ones that are included in the gateway. In that way, he was able to position and aim it in a way to get the bands he wanted and avoid the ones he didn't.

When you're experimenting with positions for the gateway and trying it in a new position, if you haven't had it unplugged, turn it off via the button on the side, let it sit for 5 seconds to forget the band it was on, and then start it again and see what bands you're connecting to and what speeds you're getting. Do a few speed tests. I've read of cases where this works, a gateway repositioning that solves the getting stuck on 4G alone problem. But more often, it doesn't work. Again, just an unfortunate location you're in, in relation to towers.

About choice, you have them. You can move to a location closer to a tower. You can try an external antenna. You can try another provider that works better at your house.

Ditto to what Bleck wrote.  I too am surprised that band locking isn't an existing feature.  I used it on my MOFI 4500 for channel locking/bonding on a blue plan and it made a huge difference.

When connected to n41, my SNR is 13 with download speeds of 300Mbs.  I've seen high as 540Mbs. 

For reasons unbeknownst to me, the trash can daily drifts to n71 with a SNR of 3.  Bandwidth is under 1Mbs and almost unusable.  Once I reboot, the gateway goes back to n41.

Unlike fixerjm, n41 has a far better signal strength than n71 but the gateway switches anyway.  Frustrating.

- Flappy

Well, positioning the gateway where you get the best speedtest results, rotating it in small increments to point the internal antennas differently, and getting a third party signal booster or antenna are about an that's currently available. There's no way to force the device to 5G, and no way to force it to connect to a specific tower. If a rep tells you they're going to switch the tower, they're not telling you the truth. 

My situation seems to be the reverse of what is being discussed here. When my device switches  to B66 primary n41 secondary, the data rate goes to pot. I can't get 5Mbs. When I am connected B66/n71 I then get download rates from 100 to 150 Mbs.

While that is not the speeds some are reporting, it is plenty fast enough for browser activity, downloads,  and streaming YouTube TV at the same time without the video buffering.

I think my location relative to towers  is that the “faster” n41 signal is from towers where the distance  is at the edge if the higher  frequency range while the n71 signal being a lower frequency is stronger at my distance.

While i have access to two different towers, the performance is the same regardless of which tower gets connected. Best rates are still with B66/n71.

Team Mobile team - A couple of options that I would like to throw by you all:
1. upgrade the firmware on the T-Mobile Home internet cylinder device to allow for band locking (or in my case, to allow turning off the primary and leaving the secondary on.  I have a good signal for 5g, and and bad signal for 4 g.  I have tried an external antenna.  When I am set with n71 on my secondary signal, it gets 3 bars (on the 192.168.12.1 router browser screen) and I get 1 or 2 on the primary which is on B2.  The darn unit will sometimes go to 'Connection Lost' and kill my internet connection.  I know if I could get it to ignore the B2 band, and stay on the n71, I would have pretty good internet.  This is basically the best option for me - would greatly appreciate this being made a possibility.  I appreciate anyone taking the time to look into this and let the community know if this will be a possibility anytime soon.  Or if someone has an alternative out there to be able to lock bands and still be able to use the T-Mobile home internet plan / device - please let me know.

For all you folks that are having connection problems,  I think you will find you need BOTH the Primary and secondary signals. The primary is a 4g signal usually and secondary is the 5g signal. Primary typically is band 2 or B66 and secondary is N41 or N71. The 5g N41 is a higher frequency that has a shorter range, and N71 is a lower frequency and therefore a longer range.

All you can really do is move the can to various locations to get what works best for you. Bars are not as important as Quality (best at least more positive than -15) AND Noise Ratio ( as positive as you can get, not zero or minus)

I added a cooling fan to my "Trash Can" and shifted ot to a location right on the window sill. I also removed the aluminum screen from the window, it was blocking signal. I now am able to get a good steady N41 secondary with data capacities between 150Mbs and 225Mbs.

A good source if informaton on 5g internet is "Nater Tater 5g Internet" on youtube.

Really need band-locking here in Temecula, CA. Until T-mobile gets around to updating a local Sprint tower, both bands are intermittent, but the 5G comes through most of the time when I'm travelling the local business area. Trouble is, the phone navigates back to LTE which seems to have a strong signal, but the signal must be garbage since nothing gets through. So, I need to manually move mobile network to LTE and back to 5G/LTE to get anything and that lasts maybe 50 seconds before I lose it, and then after doing that about 5 times, I really lose it!